Matrix Management

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Matrix management is, strictly speaking, where people have more than one reporting line. However our clients are also using the word matrix to describe horizontal working – structures and teams that cut across the traditional vertical silos of function, geography and business units.

95% of Fortune top 50 and 90% of FTSE top 50 companies operate a matrix. A matrix is common in all types of complex organizations, particularly those which operate internationally or with multiple business units.

17% of employees surveyed by Gallup for McKinsey had more than one boss (a formal matrix structure).

18% served on multiple teams every workday and 49% served on multiple teams some days (matrix working).

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Why matrix management?

Organizations typically choose matrix management for one or more of four key reasons:

1. One Company

To break the traditional vertical silos of function and geography and increase cooperation, communication and resource accessibility across the business

2. Integrated delivery

To work more “horizontally”, serve global customers, manage supply chains that extend outside the organization and run integrated business regions, functions and processes

3. Flexible response

To reflect the importance of both the global and the local, the business and the function in the structure and to respond quickly to changes in priorities between them

4. Broader people

A matrix helps us develop individuals with broader perspectives and skills who can deliver value across the business and manage in a more complex and interconnected environment

The business logic is compelling, but introducing matrix management significantly increases complexity in the way people work together. We can’t eliminate complexity from this way of working but we work with our clients to minimize and manage common disadvantages, such as:

Lack of accountability

Unclear goals and roles

Delays in decision-making (too many people getting involved)

Increase in bureaucracy (an increase in the number of meetings and committees)

The disadvantages of matrix management are fundamentally about the way people work together.

Delivering the advantages and managing the disadvantages of matrix management cannot be achieved through a structural change, only by building the skills, confidence and mindset necessary to cut through this complexity. This is our area of expertise.

Matrix management, virtual or global –or all 3?

Your team or organization may have only one, or possibly all three of these challenges.

Our clients often use the terms interchangeably, although they are increasingly using the phrase “matrix management” to describe all of the issues mentioned above – even if they don’t have a formal matrix structure. We describe this as working in “the increasingly connected organization.”

Our programs can be quickly tailored to your specific blend of challenges.